SFCS to Honor Emily Vallario and Margaret Smith at Spring Gala

On Thursday evening, May 12th, Scarsdale Edgemont Family Counseling Service will honor two of Scarsdale's brightest stars at their annual spring fundraiser event, Starry Night at the Scarsdale Golf Club. Long time SFCS employee Emily Vallario and community volunteer Margaret Smith will be honored with SFCS' prestigious Open Door Award. The duo is being recognized for their work in re-vitalizing the Scarsdale Task Force on Drugs and Alcohol, a community action group dedicated to reducing underage alcohol use and all illegal drug use.

Emily wears many hats in Scarsdale where she began her career sixteen years ago. She serves as a Youth Outreach Worker with middle school aged youth and their families and has also filled the role of Youth Services Project Team Leader, Parent Support Group Program Coordinator, and liaison to numerous Scarsdale youth serving organizations.

In July 2014, Emily was promoted to the position of SFCS Director of Community Services, and this past September, she assumed the role of Project Coordinator of the Scarsdale Task Force on Drugs and Alcohol. As coordinator, Emily has worked to re-engage the various community groups and representatives that make up the Task Force, has advocated for meaningful teen representation and is harnessing the power of social media as the means of distributing prevention messages to youth. "What impresses me most about Emily is that after sixteen years, she comes to work every day with the same energy she had during her first week on the job" said SFCS Executive Director, Jay Genova who has known Vallario since they were hired together by SFCS in 2000. When she's not busy with her professional obligations, Emily enjoys spending time with her husband, Steve and her two children, Julia age 10, Joseph age 7 and their dog Tucker.

Community volunteer Margaret Smith has served on multiple boards and in varied leadership positions within the schools and the village. Margaret is the current President of the High School PTA and was previously President of the Heathcote PTA, President of PT Council, and past chair of the School Board Nominating Committee. She is on the board of the Friends of the Scarsdale Library and has also served on the boards of the League of Women Voters of Scarsdale, the Junior League of Central Westchester and as a member of the Rheumatology Council at the Hospital for Special Surgery.

Margaret is currently pursuing a master's degree at the New York Medical College's School of Public Health and now works at SFCS on her public heath practicum for her degree. As a Public Health Assistant to SFCS and the Task Force she been instrumental in implementing the Strategic Prevention Framework, an evidence based model of community prevention and developing the communities prevention work plan.

Margaret and her husband Larry have been residents of Scarsdale for 24 years, and have raised three children here. Husband Larry says, "Margaret has the unique ability to bring people together and she works tirelessly to make Scarsdale a better place for all its residents."

Emily and Margaret recently attended a national conference on adolescent drug and alcohol prevention in Washington D.C. where they met with Senator Charles Schumer as part of the conference's legislative rally. Genova said that "Emily and Margaret have breathed life back into the Task Force, educating themselves, sharing their commitment to service and of course their passion for improving the well being of the youth of Scarsdale." "

Members of the Scarsdale community are invited to join SFCS in honoring Emily Vallario and Margaret Smith at an evening filled with fun, friends, dancing and dining.

A Starry Night will serve as SFCS's spring fundraiser, and will feature the live music of The Del Bocas. The event will be held at The Scarsdale Golf Club. To purchase event tickets, or to place an ad in our journal, please go to: www.sfcsinc.org and follow the link to a Starry Night or call 914-723-3281.